Farewell

This year marks my 10th year on the Board on Professional Standards (BOPS). I began my service as a fellow for the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute in 1997, and soon found myself appointed to the Committee on Preparedness and Progress (COPAP), and on the Sponsoring Team for a New Training Facility under the direct sponsorship of the Association, The Greater Kansas City Psychoanalytic Institute. In 2001, Ronald Benson, a candidate for BOPS chair, surprised me by asking me to serve as his secretary. We narrowly won the election. I have him to thank (and sometimes blame) for the six years I have spent as an officer of the BOPS. Ron has been a trusted mentor and friend ever since.

While secretary, I served as chair of the Committee on the Accreditation of Freestanding Institutes (CAFI) and of the BOPS Ad Hoc Task Force on Reorganization.

I became chair-elect in 2003 and started my term as chair of the BOPS in June of 2004. It has been a privilege to serve in these difficult times. The people with whom I have worked are among the most dedicated, selfless, and capable people I have encountered in my professional life. In addition to my family, I want to thank a few individuals who have helped me immeasurably throughout my service.

When I served on the Sponsoring Team for the Greater Kansas City Institute, the other members of the team were Phyllis Tyson and George (Mike) Allison. I felt privileged to be included in such distinguished company. The two of them mentored me as I learned how to be helpful to a developing institute. Their dedication and commitment to psychoanalytic education made an indelible impression.

The late Larry Chalfin asked me to run for chair of the BOPS when Benson's term was coming to a close. Larry was generous in sharing his wisdom with me, and I miss his steady presence. No one understood the BOPS and its responsibilities better than he, except perhaps Donald Rosenblitt. After I was elected secretary in May of 2001 in New Orleans, I had to leave at the end of the meeting to catch my flight home. I will never forget Don following Ron Benson and me down Canal Street, so that he could gleefully and enthusiastically congratulate us on our victory. He gave us astute advice that helped us in our election, and Don has given me sound advice ever since. He embodies the heart and the soul of the BOPS.

Beth Seelig deserves special mention for having had the forbearance to serve as my secretary during my term as chair. I have known Beth for 30 years; we first met when she had just graduated from her psychiatric residency and was serving as an attending psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, where I was beginning my residency in psychiatry. Beth was my first clinical supervisor in my psychiatric training. Her help and guidance was as helpful to me then as it has been to me for the last three years. No problem was too big or too small to warrant her thoughtful consideration.

I am also grateful that I am leaving the BOPS in the very capable hands of Cal Narcisi and Myrna Weiss, who will be the next co-chair and co-secretary. Cal has served as chair of numerous committees and task forces of the BOPS and briefly as its secretary and chair. Myrna has been an energetic fellow of the BOPS, and chair of the Committee on Institutes (COI) for the past six years. The BOPS could not have two more solid and reliable leaders at the helm. Working with them closely throughout my tenure and during my final, transitional, year has been and is a privilege.

The Coordinating Committee consists of the chairs of all BOPS committees and task forces, and functions as an executive committee for the BOPS. I would be remiss if I did not mention previously unmentioned committee chairs whose service I have benefited from and depended upon. They are Ruth Karush, Kirsten Dahl, William Bernstein, Mary Scharold, Stephanie Smith, Robert Michels, Melvin Lansky, Robert Emde, Stuart Hauser, Gail Reed, and, last but not least, Mike Singer. Mike has been a real friend and an astute adviser. As a BOPS officer, I have worked with four capable presidents: Dick Fox, Newell Fisher, Jon Meyer, and Lynne Moritz. Others to whom I am grateful include Robert Glick, Leon Hoffman, Marvin Margolis, Alan Compton, Larry Inderbitzin, David Carlson, Bob Cummings, J. David Miller, the incomparable Prudence Gourguechon, all of the BOPS Fellows and all of those who have served on BOPS committees during my terms of office.

All of those who I have mentioned helped make difficult work less difficult and more pleasurable. Most serve or have served voluntarily. My greatest concern as I leave office is whether the Association will continue to attract such fine and dedicated people to serve in critical and important roles. Work on behalf of the Board on Professional Standards, and on behalf of the Association in general, has become hazardous duty. We are in danger of destroying ourselves from within. Our Internet listservs dominate the Association's discourse between our national meetings. The listservs are wonderful forums for politics, agitation, and propaganda; they are terrible forums for thoughtful deliberation and deep discourse. The postings too easily migrate to negative affect, ad hominem attack, and destructive illusion. Thus, attempting to conduct the Association's business via the Internet is unwise. We need to restore a sense of order and decency in our discourse if we expect good and dedicated people to donate their time and energy to the Association and its work.

On balance, my time of service has been gratifying. I hope those serving the Association in the future will feel the same way.